JOHN’S NEW GOAL
Ex-liverpool and England footballer JOHN BARNES turns up the heat in the Masterchef kitchen
FORMER ENGLAND FOOTBALLER John Barnes is among the famous faces looking to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with their culinary creations as a new series of Celebrity Masterchef returns to BBC1 this week.
The ex-liverpool star is among 20 hopefuls, and joins four other celebs – Rak-su singer Myles Stephenson, comedian Judi Love, The Apprentice contestant Thomas Skinner and Death in Paradise actor Shyko Amos – in the first heat, filmed before lockdown.
We caught up with Barnes,
56, to find out if he’s confident about his cooking…
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO TAKE PART IN THIS YEAR’S Celebrity Masterchef? I love cooking and I’ve always enjoyed watching the show, so when the opportunity came up, I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is. I discovered it’s the same as when people watch football and think, ‘Oh, I could do that!’ The reality is, it’s harder when you’re being judged by experts and discovering the truth about your skills.
WHAT ARE YOUR FOOD INFLUENCES?
Coming from Jamaica, I love spicy food. Our national dish is curried goat and Jamaican cooking is full of garlic, chilli, cumin and peppers. I’m like Monica in Friends – you can never have too much garlic!
WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST FOOD MEMORY? Eating lots of it. Jamaicans like to cook a lot of food. Even now, when my mum comes to stay with us, she gets stuck in straight away with the cooking. The first thing she does after a 10-hour flight to visit us is head to the supermarket to get ingredients.
DO YOU ENJOY CATERING FOR BIG FAMILY GATHERINGS? Absolutely. I’ve got seven children and some of them have left and got married and now have their own kids. We love getting together. Barbecues are perfect, especially as I’m such a big meat-eater, so I’ll chuck on lots of rib-eye steaks.
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CULINARY CREATIONS BEING JUDGED? I’ve done TV shows before where I’ve been judged, like Strictly
Come Dancing, so I’m used to it. Everyone is actually very supportive behind the scenes giving you tips. Some of John’s comments on TV can seem a bit harsh, but it’s just constructive criticism and he’s not really like that. John and Gregg can’t say, ‘Oh, that’s nice, well done’ all the time. That would be a pretty boring show.
YOU’VE TAKEN PART IN TWO SERIES OF Harry’s Heroes WITH HARRY REDKNAPP TO GET EX-FOOTBALLERS BACK INTO SHAPE. HOW HAS YOUR DIET CHANGED AS YOU’VE GOT OLDER? It’s a lot healthier now. In my younger days, I’d be eating a lot of Mcdonald’s and KFC, but, of course, I’d be burning it all off training and on the pitch. You can’t do that when you’re older.